Preemption allows corporations to boost their profits by suppressing local government power, community groups and citizens.

Last week, the National League of Cities released a report
tracking an outbreak of state laws stepping on and nullifying local
progressive laws and policies across the country. The picture it paints
in seven key areas is shocking to anyone who believes in local
democracy.

The report, “City Rights in an Era of Preemption,”
says 24 states have preempted local minimum wage increases; 17 have
stopped paid sick or family leave; three have voided anti-discrimination
protections for LGBT individuals; three have stopped laws aimed at home
sharing (like AirBnB that has tightened affordable housing options); 37
have blocked local regulation of ride sharing (that compete with the
more heavily licensed taxis); 17 have blocked municipal broadband
(challenging telecom monopolies); and 42 have limited local taxation and
spending.

Preemption is the legal term that describes this legal assault, which extends to many more areas,
among them firearms, factory farms, pesticide regulation, fracking,
nutrition labeling, and e-cigarettes. In almost all instances,
preemption is a deliberate state government-sanctioned corporate
takeover to boost private profiteering by suppressing local government
power, community groups and citizens. The big exception outside
profiterting are anti-LGBT measures, which reflect another far-right
agenda.

AlterNet's Don Hazen and Steven Rosenfeld recently spoke to Mark Pertschuk, director of Grassroots Change
and Preemption Watch about this insidious trend. Pertschuk discusses
its growth in recent years, its explosion in 2016 and 2017 as Donald
Trump has diverted media attention, and how grassroots protests have
been effective in exposing, slowing and stopping some brazen corporate
power grabs.

Pertschuk’s message is harrowing and hopeful. On the
one hand, there is huge momentum behind preemption that often protects
corporate interests, but sometimes is simply a stand in for right-wing
ideology. There is hope, however, because there are key cases where
community activists have been able to marshall broad public support and
legislatures have backed down. And increasingly, elected officials like
Tallahassee, Florida, Mayor Andrew Gillum, have beaten the GOP and gun lobby in court, and are creating coalitions with other elected officials to defend local democracy.

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I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
Thomas Jefferson